Stuffed Cabbage Rolls: Galumpkis

My girlfriends and I got together just before the holidays. As is customary the wine flowed and the conversations grew louder to overcome the laughter. I think at some point a makeover was in progress, this may or may not have been before the bartender brought the table a complimentary shot of something velvety and sweet. I can't be sure.

One of the many conversations that circled the table was a brief discussion on who will host our next supper club. We started a "Supper Club" a few months back and what was supposed to be a monthly event happened once and then quickly subsided. This is typical, even with the best intentions, life gets in the way. So it was decided that the next supper club theme would be Polish cuisine hosted by Tracy. It got me thinking about one of my favorite dishes mom used to make: Galumpkis.
I've never made them before and she's not able to access her recipe box so I decided to go online and see if I couldn't find a decent recipe. I found one on the food network that looked delicious but in reality turned out rather bland. Of course traditionally this dish was intended to make a little go a long way when a little was all that you had... And while that is not too far from he truth now that the credit card bills are coming in from Christmas, I think we can do better.
This recipe is adapted from Tyler Florence's.

Here is what you will need:

Sweet and Sour Tomato Sauce:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 quarts crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Cabbage Rolls:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon butter
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Splash dry red wine
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 large egg
1 cup cooked brown rice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large head green cabbage

We'll start with the sweet and sour tomato sauce, and away we go...

Go ahead and mince all 4 cloves of garlic

Take half of the garlic and saute in a sauce pan with olive oil until soft. reserve the rest of the garlic for later.

Add the crushed tomatoes,

the white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper and let simmer until thickened.

Dice one medium onion or about a cup.

In a large skillet heat the olive oil and butter and saute the onion and the reserved garlic from earlier, until soft.

Add two tablespoons of tomato paste, a splash of dry red wine,

the chopped parsley,

and a few ladles of the sweet and sour tomato sauce.

combine and remove from the heat.

Now to prepare the meat/rice portion of the filling.

In a large bowl break up your ground beef and pork. I'm making this batch sans pork because our 3 local grocery stores DID NOT have ground pork. Seriously? Its not like we live in the boonies. And this is not a isolated incident, either. I regularly have to go without something on my list or drive several miles out of my way to the HOLY GRAIL of grocery stores, Harris Teeter in Chapel Hill. Bitch, moan, whine. Anyway, I much prefer it with the pork so if you have a proper meat department, get the pork too.

Add the cooked rice,

the egg,

a generous amount of salt and pepper and mix together.

Once cooled to the touch, add the onion and garlic mixture.

Using your hands incorporate everything together.

Finally, prepare the cabbage:

This reminds me of a doll I had when I was little... Take the cabbage and peel away any damaged outer leaves, save them for the baking dish.

Put a large stock pot of water on the stove to simmer and gently place the head of cabbage in the water to blanch the leaves.

After about 3 to 5 minutes the leaves will pull easily from the rest of the cabbage.

Once you've got all your leaves, lay them out

To make the 'rolling' easier cut the hard white middle vein out.

place a good amount of the meat mixture and place in the center of the leaf.

and roll em up!

Lets see that again, in slow motion:





Ta-Da!

Place each cabbage roll seam down in a baking dish lined with the outer cabbage leaves you set aside earlier (this will prevent your rolls from sticking to the dish).

Then top with the rest of the sweet and sour tomato sauce.

Pop in a 350 degree preheated oven for about an hour.

The aroma is incredible!

So comforting on a chilly night!

Enjoy!

Over stuffed Mushrooms

I've always loved this stuffed mushroom recipe but until yesterday I didn't realize how great it truly is. I threw together a batch to bring to the work Christmas party and they didn't last 20 minutes. Very simple but so yummy!


Here is what you will need:

2 large packages of button mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1/4 cup herbed bread crumbs
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
a small bunch of chive
salt and pepper to taste



Prepare the mushrooms for cooking using which ever cleaning method you prefer... I read somewhere that you should always use a clean damp towel to wipe mushrooms clean rather than rinse them or soak them in water. I don't buy it. I think the amount of additional water they would soak up is negligible. Once clean remove the stems and reserve half for the stuffing.

melt one tablespoon of butter in a large pan

Drop in the caps and sprinkle with salt.

Saute the caps in the butter for a few minutes, make sure to get the mushrooms coated well with butter, this is flavor baby!

Remove the caps from the pan and set aside in a baking dish.

(Disclaimer: I hate this picture. I wish I had used a wooden cutting board instead for a little contrast.)

Garlic! mince up a couple of cloves..
.

and lightly saute in the remaining butter. Set aside.

Now to throw together the 'stuffing'

blitz some bread crumbs and place in a large mixing bowl.

Take the stems you set aside..

blitz and add to the mixing bowl with the bread crumbs.

Fresh chive,
give em a little chop

and add to the party.




Take half the Parmesan...


and all the cream cheese

and drop in the bowl. We are almost there, just one last thing...

Sauteed garlic: soft and buttery, nothing like it.

Salt and pepper to your taste and then give it all a spin in the blender.

Hmmm. this looks strangely like tuna salad.

Which gives me an idea... but I will save that for another post.


Back to the mushies:

I find there is no better tool for this job than your fingers. Be generous and pile it on there!

Take the left over Parmesan and top each mushroom with a little pile of cheese.

Bake in the oven at 375 until the cheese on top is melty and golden brown

one last thing, you know, to dress it up a bit and give it some color:



Fresh chopped parsley. Mhmm.


Pop a couple into your mouth before you set them out or else you won't get any!